Choosing the Servant Role

The ancient Greeks had two words for time. The first word was chronos, which meant chronological or sequential time. There are 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week and 365 days in a year. Referring to time in the sense of chronos was quantitative in nature. The second word was kairos, which referred to time that was more permanent or eternal in nature—God time, so to speak. While chronos time refers to quantitative time, kairos is qualitative time.

Illustration Courtesy of Mike Slaughter

Servant role

Jesus, aware of the limited nature of his chronos time on earth, resolutely set his focus on accomplishing his kairos mission given by heaven. On Thursday evening, the night marked by his last supper with his disciples and his later arrest, we are given this account of his priorities:

"Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him" (John 13:3-5).

Within the emotional tsunami of impending betrayal by those closest to him, as well as the certainty of execution for heresy charges made by the religious bureaucracy and backed by the state, this rebel of the renegade gospel chose the servant role. What an upside-down, countercultural demonstration of leadership and power contrasted against the religious and political leaders of his time and ours! In making that choice, Jesus confirmed that our life’s mission lies between two points: knowing from whom we have come and to whom we will return.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote concerning Jesus’ forty days of temptation in the wilderness and Satan’s offer to give Jesus rule over all earthly kingdoms: “Jesus could have been Lord of this world. As the Messiah the Jews had dreamed of, he could have freed Israel and led it to fame and honor. . . . He knows that for this dominion he would have to pay a price that is too high for him. It would come at the cost of obedience to God’s will.”

Instead of accepting Satan’s offer, Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only’” (Luke 4:8). Jesus knew that unwavering obedience to God’s kingdom mission would mean rejection, even from his own people, the people for whom he would eventually give his life to save. He knew that obedience would lead to isolation, persecution, torture and death. This is the juncture where we begin to grasp the full meaning of Jesus’ humanity. Jesus the man experienced fear, temptation to make compromises and the doubt that he expressed fully at his execution: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

Following Jesus in the way of the cross means resolute commitment to fulfilling God’s kairos mission, a mission that lies between the two points of knowing from whom we have come and to whom we will return.

The Rev. Mike Slaughter is pastor of Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Ohio. This blog was excerpted with permission from his latest book RENEGADE GOSPEL: The Rebel Jesus.